Friday, January 20, 2012

Raised Right by Alisa Harris

I'm loving being a "book reviewer." Free books and a deadline to read them by. Not a bad idea for someone who loves to read but often doesn't make time these days. When I have a deadline, I ALWAYS make time.

I just finished reading, "Raised Right: How I Untangled My Faith from Politics" by Alisa Harris. This book tells the story of a young woman who grew up in a family that was very active in politics. She spent a lot of time as a young girl, picketing abortion clinics and learning about being a conservative Republican. Harris spends time in the book, sharing about her story from a young girl to a young adult, when she started questioning how her politics intersected with her faith. A lot of this book is Harris' story but at the same time, it looks at the questions of her generation about politics and faith.

I am still trying to decide what I think about this book. I liked it but at the same time, it moved slow for me. I really appreciated and could relate to some parts of Harris' story and many of her questions were challenging to me. The main thing I walked away from the book is that no matter where you stand in your political beliefs- it is very important that people of faith are speaking out about important issues. It was also a great challenge to me to continue to ask questions about how I'm "supposed" to take a stance as a Christian (or so it seems) and to continue to try to follow what God says. I loved Harris' honesty in this book- it was refreshing. Overall, this was a pretty good book that I enjoyed reading.